Grade 3. Forces and Interactions helps students understand the physical science concepts at work in forces and interactions. Building Blocks of Science® 3D lessons are structured in 30-minute class sessions so science fits easily into your day. The Forces and Interactions 3-Use Unit Kit with Literacy Set includes teacher's guide, 30 student readers, 60-month license to access online digital resources, and enough supplies and apparatus to teach the unit 3 times to a class of up to 30 students.

Overview

Grade 3. In 5 lessons spanning 18 class sessions, the Building Blocks of Science® 3D unit Forces and Interactions helps students understand the physical science concepts at work in forces and interactions. Building Blocks of Science® 3D lessons are structured in 30-minute class sessions, making it easy to fit science into your day. The Forces and Interactions 3-Use Unit Kit with Literacy Set includes a teacher's guide (item #514942), 24 on-grade student readers (item #514903), 6 below-grade student readers (item #514903BGR), a 60-month license for the teacher and students to access online digital resources, and enough supplies and apparatus to teach the unit 3 times to a class of up to 30 students.

Along with hands-on learning, this Building Blocks of Science® 3D unit also provides digital resources to enhance the classroom experience. These components offer an additional method of delivering content, particularly for classrooms with consistent access to computers or tablets. Digital components include digital teacher's guide, simulations, digital literacy reader, interactive whiteboard activities, interactive student investigation sheets, and assessment. All digital resources for Building Blocks of Science® 3D are accessible at CarolinaScienceOnline.com.

Unit Summary
All objects experience forces. Students are likely to be familiar with forces that result in motion, like pushes or pulls, but may not know much about other forces, like magnetism or gravity, which are more abstract and require the observation of phenomena. Forces and Interactions focuses on Newton's three laws of motion, which form the central base of physical science concepts upon which students will develop understanding as they progress through science courses. This unit provides students opportunities to use inquiry-based, hands-on science to develop a deeper understanding of forces and the interactions that initiate, change, and stop movement. Throughout a series of five lessons, students will build upon the concepts of balanced and unbalanced forces by considering variables such as gravity, magnetism, friction, mass, and distance. Students will engage in a variety of investigations, practice engineering, and draw connections between science concepts and their real-life applications.

Lesson Overviews
Lesson 1
In Lesson 1, students are introduced to balanced forces. Beginning with an inquiry-based pre-unit assessment, students work with a beam balance and make observations about its behavior when objects are added to each side. Later, they practice using standard masses and writing expressions to describe the masses of unknown objects. The force of gravity is used to describe the effect when mass is added only to one side of the beam balance. Other forces, like pushes and pulls, are introduced to provide a foundation for Newton's first law of motion, inertia, which states that in order to set an object in motion, some kind of force must be applied. In the next lessons, students will investigate unbalanced forces that change an object’s direction or speed. Lesson 2
In Lesson 1, students examined balanced forces using a beam balance. They described the forces acting upon the beam balance that caused it to become level. In Lesson 2 students consider unbalanced forces and the resulting motion as they build upon their understanding of inertia. Students use toy cars and spring scales to explain how applying force results in motion, a change in direction, or a stop. They use a toy car to determine forces that are applied to a moving object to make it stop moving and conclude that friction is a force that causes a resistance in movement. Students study inertia by observing what happens to a weighted car that rolls down a ramp with and without a barrier. Lesson 3
In the previous lessons, students considered balanced and unbalanced forces by investigating concepts related to inertia, friction, and gravity. In Lesson 3, students apply unbalanced forces to an object and observe the resulting motion. By securing small masses to the end of a string attached to a car, students observe that the force required to set the car in motion increases with the amount of mass added to the car. Force and weight also affect the speed of the car. Students learn that adding a load to the car will require more force to be applied to set the car in motion and will slow the car's movement. Magnets are also explored when students learn that the strength of a magnetic force can increase when more magnets are added to a system. These concepts are further examined in the next lesson, in which students determine which objects are magnetic and explore attraction and repulsion. Magnetism is an important concept as students approach the final investigation, in which they will design a model.Lesson 4
In the previous lesson, students explored the relationships between mass, force, and motion. Using paper clips and washers, students increased the mass of a diecast car and the amount of force applied to the car and observed the effects on the car's motion. Students also examined magnetic forces and the effect of adding more magnets to a system. In Lesson 4, students dive deeper into the concept of magnetic forces. They first determine that some objects are magnetic but others are not. Students investigate the concept of magnetic polarity using iron filings, which will prime them for understanding the attraction and repulsion of magnetic charges. Students are challenged to design an experiment to determine the polarity of ring magnets. Students then apply the principle of repelling and attracting charges to electric forces. In the next lesson, students will apply all the concepts from this unit, including magnetism, to design a model that solves an engineering problem. Students will employ the engineering cycle as they plan, test, and refine their models. Lesson 5
In the previous lessons, students explored interactions between objects and their related forces. With these concepts, they have made connections to mass, magnetism, electricity, and balance. This final Lesson 5 provides students an opportunity to apply what they have learned to an engineering challenge. In this culminating activity, groups use their knowledge of forces and interactions to develop a model and then evaluate and refine their design as they improve their solution to the challenge. Students will then apply what they have learned to complete the unit's summative assessment.

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